Joliet school district teaches value of collaboration

Sure, plenty of Joliet high school students might be anxious to graduate.

It seems the opposite is true among many of the nearly 900 employees of Joliet Township High School District 204, which oversees Joliet Central and Joliet West high schools.

Once they start working there, many don't want to leave.

Joliet West teacher Mike O'Shea, 35, joined the district five years ago and plans to stay for the length of his career.

"It's the atmosphere, the culture. We're just very supported. It's a fantastic place," said O'Shea, who previously worked at two other districts. "I won't be working anyplace else until I retire."

The 5,000-student district ranks 31st among midsize organizations on the Tribune's Top Workplaces list, according to a survey conducted by Exton, Pa.-based consulting firm WorkplaceDynamics.

Administrators say one unusual aspect of the high schools is a curriculum organized through career-focused academies, with teams of teachers from different disciplines working together. That better enables teachers, as teams, to compare notes on individual student progress and address weaknesses, O'Shea said.

"If there's an issue with a student, we can discuss the student," O'Shea said. "It's kind of like extra eyes watching them."

The district's strategic plan, which outlines objectives, gets praise for fostering harmonious relationships throughout the school system and the community, said Superintendent Cheryl McCarthy.

"It's the glue that holds us all together and provides the future direction of what we constantly strive for," she said. "Our board holds our strategic plan in very high esteem. That trickles down to everyone as far as you making a decision."

When a committee charged with executing part of the plan calling for engaging students through technology found the mission vague, it was able to assemble the group that wrote the plan and get clarification. That led to the district committing to equipping each student with a laptop, starting with last year's freshman class.

McCarthy, who started with the district just out of college as a teacher in 1986, says it's a collaborative environment that keeps employees happy.

"Everyone knows they have a voice in helping to create a vision of the school district. They're not afraid to talk about ideas that they have," she said. She recounted an instance four years ago when clerical staffers thought their technological skills needed updating. The result was to set aside days for professional development.

O'Shea said he likes that suggestions can come from any employee. He was one of six teachers spending a semester testing the internal teacher website that acts as a virtual classroom housing student-accessible documents, calendars and discussion forums.

"We have complete control of it," he said. "We gave the input on the pieces and parts that would be helpful to us. We decided what we wanted it to look like."

He also appreciates the scheduled time to interact with other teachers. Each day, O'Shea, a special education teacher, plans with the two instructors with whom he shares classes. Special needs students account for up to one-third of some classes.

"It's helpful to get other ideas and other points of view," he said.

The Central campus is primarily Hispanic, while Hispanic, black and white students each make up one-third of the West student body. The staff, though, doesn't reflect that diversity.

McCarthy said she hopes to remedy that through a University of St. Francis scholarship for Joliet students who commit to teaching in the district.

"We make sure we hire teachers that are very devoted and care about the students in our community, regardless of whether they're Hispanic or African-American or white," she said. "You have to care about the students and want the best for the students in our community."